Gavin Cassar

Gavin Cassar is Dean of Finance and Administration at INSEAD and Professor of Accounting and Control. In his administrative role, he carries senior institutional responsibility for INSEAD's €340 million operating and capital budget, a team of approximately 160 professionals, and all campus operations and development across the school's four global campuses — Fontainebleau, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and San Francisco. His portfolio spans Finance, Financial Planning and Analysis, Treasury and Cash, Procurement, Legal, Audit, Risk and Compliance, and Campus Services and Development. A centrepiece of his current work is the European Campus Reimagination — a major long-term redevelopment of INSEAD's historic Fontainebleau campus — and the leadership of INSEAD's Business Transformation Office, which has driven cross-institutional change across the school's operational and administrative functions.

As a researcher, Gavin's work examines how entrepreneurs and managers use financial information and budgets in decision-making, business planning, and contracting with investors. His research has been published in leading journals across accounting, finance, strategy, and entrepreneurship, including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting & Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Strategic Management Journal, and Journal of Business Venturing. He has served as an editor of the Journal of Business Venturing and Management Science, and on the editorial boards of accounting and entrepreneurship journals.

In the classroom, Gavin brings together the analytical rigour of academic research and the practical perspective of someone who has led complex, multi-jurisdictional organisations. He teaches corporate governance and management control, financial acumen and strategic decision-making, and performance measurement and evaluation to executives and organisations worldwide. His teaching draws directly on experience managing one of the world's most internationally diverse business schools across four countries and three continents.

Prior to INSEAD, Gavin was a faculty member at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Commerce (First Class Honours) from the University of Newcastle, Australia. He has lived and worked in Australia, the United States, France, and Singapore, and brings a genuinely global perspective to both institutional leadership and management education.